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The 1989 Topps Rete
Rose baseball card
Hardballtalk.com
Topps baseball
cards refuse to mention Pete Rose
This year’s Topps baseball cards include “career chase” notes on the
back that list how far players are away from various statistical
records. For instance, on the back of Mets reliever Bobby Parnell‘s
card it says: “With 249 games pitched, Parnell is 1,003 away from Jesse
Orosco’s all-time record of 1,252.”
However, Rob Harris of ChicagoSideSports.com noticed that all of the
“career chase” notes mentioning hit totals do so without actually using
Pete Rose’s name. So, for example, A.J. Pierzynski‘s card says: “With
1,645 hits, Pierzynski is 2,611 away from the all-time record of 4,256.”
That “all-time record of 4,256″ belongs to Rose, of course, but
apparently Topps has taken it upon themselves to whitewash him from
history. Or something. When contacted by Harris company spokesperson
Clay Luraschi said only that it was “a simple decision” and made “plain
and simple.”
I’m guessing the “plain and simple” part has to do with Topps’
licensing agreement with MLB, which obviously wants nothing to do with
Rose (and Topps wants even less to do with angering MLB). But until
told otherwise I’m going to assume Topps is taking this stance in 2013,
three decades after Rose retired, because they’re less offended by his
connection to gambling on games and more offended by his new reality
television show on TLC.
Read this and other articles at Hardballtalk.com
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